Test 8 · ★ · Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together
A boy in Georgia writes "Y'all, I got three reasons." ("Y'all" means you all.) In a formal report, which opening works better?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 1 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: boy, I, Y'all, opening · What happens: write, get, mean, work · To what, where: Y'all, three reasons, you · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 37 «Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together» of the English course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.
The question
Sentence 1: A boy in Georgia writes "Y'all, I got three reasons."
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 boy | det |
| 2 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 writes | nsubj |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 Georgia | case |
| 4 | Georgia | Georgia | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 boy | nmod |
| 5 | writes | write | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 Y'all | punct |
| 7 | Y'all | Y'all | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 writes | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 got | punct |
| 9 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 10 got | nsubj |
| 10 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 writes | ccomp |
| 11 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 reasons | nummod |
| 12 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 got | obj |
| 13 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 got | punct |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 10 got | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | write | present | a boy in Georgia | Y'all | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent y'all=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | get in a quote | past | I | three reasons | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer reason=Stimulus |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
Sentence 2: ("Y'all" means you all.)
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 2 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 Y'all | punct |
| 3 | Y'all | Y'all | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 means | nsubj |
| 4 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 Y'all | punct |
| 5 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 5 means | obj |
| 7 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 you | nmod:unmarked |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| 9 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mean | present | Y'all | you | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Topic |
Sentence 3: In a formal report, which opening works better?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | ADP | _ | 4 report | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 report | det |
| 3 | formal | formal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 report | amod |
| 4 | report | report | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 works | obl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 report | punct |
| 6 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 7 opening | det |
| 7 | opening | opening | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 works | nsubj |
| 8 | works | work | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | better | well | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 8 works | advmod |
| 10 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 8 works | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | work | present | which opening | in a formal report; well property | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in report=Theme |
The options
Option 1 · ✓ the right answer
There are three main reasons.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 are | expl |
| 2 | are | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 5 reasons | nummod |
| 4 | main | main | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 reasons | amod |
| 5 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 are | nsubj |
| 6 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 are | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | does | present | three main reasons | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
Option 2
Three things or whatever.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 2 things | nummod |
| 2 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 whatever | nsubj |
| 3 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 4 whatever | cc |
| 4 | whatever | whatever | PRON | PronType=Rel | root | root |
| 5 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 whatever | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice
Y'all, here's my reasons, innit.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Y'all | Y'all | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 here | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Y'all | punct |
| 3 | here | here | ADV | PronType=Dem | root | root |
| 4 | 's | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 here | cop |
| 5 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 reasons | nmod:poss |
| 6 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 here | nsubj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 innit | punct |
| 8 | innit | innit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 reasons | conj |
| 9 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 here | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | Y'all | here property | tree rules |
Option 4
Reasons, reasons, reasons.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 reasons | punct |
| 3 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Reasons | conj |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 reasons | punct |
| 5 | reasons | reason | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Reasons | conj |
| 6 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Reasons | punct |
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.
Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/t8/